Beauty and the Cowboy Read Free

thought that relationship had been heading somewhere. Charlotte would’ve been lying if she said she hadn’t been a tiny bit relieved when they broke up.
    God, she was horrible. She really wanted only what was best for Jesse. Even though Eve had been perfect on paper, there had just been something about them together that hadn’t been right.
    As if Charlotte had a vote.
    Jesse flipped on the overhead light and gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk.
    “Have a seat. I’ll grab that brochure I was talking about while we wait for Mattie to bring in the quote you requested for the added dressing rooms for the pageant.”
    He turned his back on them and began searching in the top drawer of a tall filing cabinet. Charlotte turned to say something to Jane and caught her intently gazing at Jesse.
    She wasn’t immune, either.
    Jane must’ve sensed Charlotte watching her watch Jesse, because she glanced at her and lifted an eyebrow then gave a discreet nod toward Jesse’s backside. Even though Jane didn’t utter a single word, Charlotte knew her friend was appreciating the…er…view and was encouraging her to join in the fun.
    Charlotte shook her head and made a censuring face at Jane, but that only egged Jane on.
    Jane was a professional through and through, and she was about as in love as any newlywed could be. Yet she didn’t feel the need to take herself overly seriously. That’s why Charlotte liked her. Especially when there was no questioning that a red-blooded, heterosexual woman would have to be blind not to notice the incredible work of art that was Jesse Guthrie’s backside.
    How had Charlotte never properly appreciated it before?
    Probably because she’d never stopped long enough to take in the view and, of course, there was Tom. But Tom wasn’t here. And sure enough, broad, muscular shoulders hidden beneath a light blue plaid cotton shirt tapered down to a trim waist that enhanced Jesse’s very finest jean-clad…asset.
    A strange thrill that was both electrifying and a little forbidden shot through Charlotte.
    Then Jesse turned, clutching the brochure that had been his mission. “I wanted to show you this—What’s wrong?”
    Charlotte wanted to crawl under the desk, because she was sure she and Jane were busted. But by the grace of God, Jane’s cell phone sounded a text, which she immediately picked up.
    Jesse handed the brochure to Charlotte. “This might be a workable option for more dressing-room space if you really think you need it. How many girls are entering the pageant?”
    Jane and Charlotte were producing this year’s Miss Marietta Fair pageant. It was the first year that the pageant was being run by the Marietta Chamber of Commerce rather than the Miss Marietta Fair board of directors, an independent group of mostly grandfatherly Marietta residents. In the past, the fair queen and her court had been voted on by the fair board of directors. Because of this, many local girls whose families weren’t as well connected as the others were shut out.
    Jane had come up with the idea of turning the pageant into an event that was open to all girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two. She’d convinced the mayor to make it a scholarship pageant that would give young women a chance to learn poise and public speaking.
    The mere idea had caused quite an uproar among some of the town’s old codgers—namely those with granddaughters who were eligible to be appointed to this year’s court. Even so, at January’s city council meeting, Jane’s plan to bring the fair queen and her court into the new millennium garnered enough votes to prevail. That’s when she’d hired Charlotte away from First Bank of Marietta to be her assistant and guide the pageant in its new direction.
    Charlotte glanced up from the brochure for the portable dressing tents. Jane was still tap-tapping away on her phone. The text seemed important.
    “We don’t have a final number because we’re still accepting